"Tedious, weird, and... fun!?!"

The Turbografx 16, as a video game console, has always been known to me as a console known for playing shooters that I just happen to enjoy. I am not going to lie to you and say that I am the world’s biggest fan of shooters, because I am most certainly not a huge fan of shooters at all. I do have my fair share of shooters that I enjoy, but I do not play them that often. However, the Turbografx 16 has provided a lot of quality shooters that I just happen to enjoy. Especially games like Air Zonk and Blazing Lazers, they were two of my favorites.

Another one of the great shooter collection on Turbogafx was a game called Space Harrier. I had played the Sega Master and Arcade versions, to pretty much no avail, as I was not really a huge fan of either one of those games. I think the biggest problem that I had with those two versions was the fact that they got rather tedious and flat out boring to play after a while.

That is, by far, the biggest problem I have with this game. The fact of the matter is, Space Harrier has proven to be quite a tedious game, no matter what console you play it on. And it is always going to be a tedious game mainly because the basic game play of the game is pretty tedious and flat out boring. The stage designs of the game could be the biggest problem with the game.

See, this is a game where the same stage likes to repeat itself far too often. Yes, I swear on my life I saw the same stage with a different pattern of enemies repeating every once in a while. This is one of the biggest problems that I have with shooters, the fact that the same stage tends to repeat itself a lot. I do not know why this had to happen in Space Harrier, because I was generally annoyed by all of this.

I think Space Harrier would have been a great game had it not been affected by a couple of serious problems. The biggest problem was the one I just mentioned, the fact that the same stages tend to repeat themselves on occasion, and the fact that I was generally annoyed by the whole 3D look of the game, as it tended to get in the way of the game a lot, and I was not a huge fan of this look.

I guess I will talk about the graphics in the game now. The game has this whole 3D look to it, which has the camera placed behind your harrier and your harrier moving forward while shooting the enemies, which are coming at you. It is a rather interesting approach to the genre, as I have never seen a shooter that looks like this, or plays like this. The 3D look tends to get in the way of the actual game, because the slowdown of the game is so messed up at times. I am telling you, the slowdown on screen gets rather unbearable at times. Otherwise, the graphics are solid.

Now, I will talk about the rather interesting music and sound effects in the game. The music in the game is simply terrible, as I do not feel that it actually fits in the theme of the game, which is not a good thing most of the time, and it is not a good thing in this case, either. I do like the boss theme in the game, however, and the creators of the game did a good job with the boss theme. Sound effects in the game are minimal or non-existant, there are some pretty interesting sound effects in the game however, like the sound that occurs when you near a boss.

Replay value in the game is an interesting subject, because I did not tend to play this game for a while after first getting it, although I still do play it to this day for a couple of reasons. I did not really play the game too much at first, but it soon dawned on me that the game was fun, so I started playing it more, and now I still do play it to this day. So, the game does not feature incredible replay value but it gets the job done.

Now, onto the challenge level of the game. This is one of the most challenging shooters I have ever played. The simple fact that this game is designed the way it is when it comes to the stages automatically pumps up the challenge level of the game significantly. I do not think I have played a more challenging game on the Turbografx than this one. Even Air Zonk tends to be a little easier ^_^ (Okay so maybe Air Zonk is easier than any other game, that’s not the point)

Overall, this is one of the better shooters I have played on the Turbografx 16, but it is far from perfect. The game does suffer from some flaws, but doesn’t every game? This has got to be, bar none, one of the weirdest shooters I have ever played, with the look of the stages and stuff, but it is definitely worth a shot. It is not perfect though.

Good Points-This is not as long and tedious as a King Broccoli review.-Fun and fast arcade style action-Rather unique graphics-The control is solid

Bad Points-This is not a King Broccoli review.-The 3D look of the game seriously annoyed me.-The music in the game did not fit the feeling of the game at all.-The cover art was terrible.

Ratings RundownStory Line – 6.2/10Graphics – 8.2/10Music and Sound Effects – 6.2/10Gameplay and Control – 7.2/10Replay Value – A Little Below AverageChallenge – A Little Above AverageOverall – 7.3/10The Last Line: This has been a SMcFadden production. Good day.